Professor Perrin has recently been providing commentary in the media, including the CBC and Vancouver Sun, related to the challenges of investigating and prosecuting online sexual exploitation, the Amanda Todd case, and the problems of online vigilantism.

“Canada is a digital nation with over 20 million people active on social media,” said Professor Perrin. “It is not surprising that criminal activity is occurring in these global digital communities.”

This project will investigate how criminal law and the criminal justice system are responding to crime committed on, or facilitated by, social media networks. It will focus on three serious categories of criminality using social media that preliminary research has identified: (1) sexual offences; (2) threats/criminal harassment; and (3) terrorism-related offences.

Professor Perrin will be collaborating with two social media experts for this project: Dr. Alfred Hermida, Director & Associate Professor, UBC Graduate School of Journalism and Dr. Patrick McCurdy, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa.